Dan and I are ENGAGED!!!

Last Monday Dan and I got engaged! He totally surprised me. We were just having a typical Monday night hanging out at the apartment. We started talking and Dan was being extra sweet without making any goofy comments like he usually does. Then I was like "What are you doing on the floor?" as he got down on one knee, I was obviously oblivious. Then he pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him! I said yes, of course, after freaking out for a few minutes :)

Later I found out that Dan had left a message for my Dad on the Friday before. But my dad had left his cell phone off all weekend, so Dan was left sweating it out all weekend thinking my dad was possibly disapproving or something. Well of course that's not the case and my dad called Dan back on Monday. Dan told me he knew he couldn't wait until the next weekend again so he decided Monday was just as good as any other night. I think it's cute that he just couldn't wait to ask me and he surprised me much more than if we went out to fancy dinner or something because I probably would have been suspecting.

I feel so lucky to have found such an amazing man. Dan treats me so well and we are both so happy together. Now for all the wedding planning... At this point we basically don't know any details about when,where, etc. so we will let you know when the details start to be determined.

Here are a couple of pictures of the ring. It's gorgeous, Dan did an amazing job picking it out!

Ice, Church, and Beer :)

I've come to learn that Texas winters are awfully strange. It may be 35 degrees one day and about 2 days later it can get back up to 70 degrees again. Last week I experienced my first real ice storm. Basically what happened is we had freezing rain and the temperatures kept dropping so by the time morning came around absolutely everything had a thin layer of ice covering it. The parking lot in my apartment complex looked a little like a skating rink and I had to pour water over the seams of my car door and the lock because everything was iced shut. But by noon the sun was shining and the ice was melting. And this weekend it got up to almost 80 degrees!

My job is going well and Dan and I found a church we both like. It's huge but it seems like they have a lot of good programs and opportunites to be a part of smaller groups. The church even has a 2 story play place in it (think MacDonalds with ball pins and tubes to climb through) and an electronic check in service for parents dropping off their kids for Sunday school. You get a receipt for your kid...does that mean you can exchange it too? :) But all of that aside it seems like a really good church, it's just big so it has to be organized.

I also found my favorite bar in the area. It's called the Flying Saucer. It has about 200 beers on tap from all around the world so basically you can go there and try something new every time. Definitely worth checking out if you ever come to Dallas.

New Job and Thanksgiving

I started my new job about 3 weeks ago. I got a job at a non-profit Mental Health Clinic in Dallas. I'm working as a case manager in the clinic. Our clinic sees low income individuals with diagnoses of bipolar, depression, and schizophrenia. It is definitely an intense population to work with but also very interesting. I think it will be a good fit for now and give me a lot of experience working with a wide variety of people. The clinic is very fast paced so time will probably fly by most of the time.


I stayed in Dallas for Thanksgiving this year and truly experienced a Bradley Thanksgiving. Dan and about 20 of his relatives all got together at his uncle's "ranch". We played football, rode 4-wheelers, some people rode the horse, played games, watched football, and all hung out and ate lots of food. It was definitely a different experience from my typical more formal Thanksgiving experience, but it was a lot of fun!

Dallas

I've made it to Dallas. I just moved a few weeks ago and am adjusting well. It's still so warm which is very nice in comparison to Seattle's fall weather. I've been working on finding a job and am working for a temp agency until I can find something more permanent. I'm very happy here so far and it's really nice being around my boyfriend, Dan, all the time. Here's a picture of Dan and I at the House of Blues last weekend.

Europe!

I spent about 3 and a half weeks traveling around Europe with two friends from college. We went to London, Paris, Rome, Lausanne, Gimmelwald (a little town up in the Swiss Alpes), Munich, Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam. We had a great time and saw so much! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.


Big Ben


Westminster Abbey


Sacré-Coeur, Paris


Inside Notre Dame



I love the Eiffel Tower!


In front of the Colosseum


One of the Cinque Terra towns in Italy


Vineyards in Montreux, Switzerland


Hiking in the Swiss Alps


Oktoberfest in Munich!

Please PRAY for the People on the Gulf Coast!

As I'm sure most of you know, hurricane Gustav is stirring in the Gulf of Mexico. It's has already taken over 80 lives and today has strengthened to a category 4 hurricane. Near the middle of the projected path is New Orleans and Mississippi also falls in its projected path. I am devastated just at the thought of ANOTHER major hurricane hitting these people who are still struggling to recover from hurricane Katrina. The third anniversary of Katrina just passed...what a way to remember it by evacuating for another one.

After this year of working on the Gulf Coast, it is all so much more personal. I know these people, I've heard their personal stories and struggles, I've seen progress and hope, but I also left a place that still has a long ways to go before it is recovered from hurricane Katrina. Please pray for these people and that by some miracle Gustav loses steam and misses them.

It also is hard for me to imagine moving on with my life and getting a job in Dallas if this storm really does hit the area I just left. How can I just sit by and not go back? We'll see...


Hurricane Gustav

Farewell Mississippi, Hello World!

I left Mississippi about a week ago. It's hard to believe the year is already over. I am ready to move on but it's always a little difficult leaving a place that I have become so attached to. I'm going to miss so many homeowners, being on the Gulf, the work I was involved in, and the cajun food. But I am ready to have a little bit more of a "normal" life that with friends, family, activities that interest me, and working 8am-5pm instead of being on call 24/7.

The next few months are going to be a whirlwind adventure! I spent last week in Dallas visiting my boyfriend, Dan, and started the apartment search there. I'm currently writing from Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting my brother and his family. My little nephew, Mason, is one and a half and is pretty adorable. I haven't seen him in nearly a year so he is like an entire different kid. Next, I'm going to a retreat in northern New Mexico for a few days with the people from the program I was with in Mississippi. After the retreat, I'm heading back to Seattle for about 3 weeks. I haven't been home to Seattle since Christmas so I'm excited to be back to visit friends and family and to have a little relief from the hot weather of the south.

But that's not all. After about 3 weeks in Seattle, I'm off to Europe with my friends Sally and Katie for 3 weeks. We are going to take a whirlwind tour of Europe from London, to Paris, to Rome, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and flying out of Amsterdam. After all of that, I'll come back to Seattle for a few days and then fly to Dallas for good. In case you didn't catch that, I'm moving to Dallas!


Rachel and I on a canoeing adventure on the Pearl River


A large gator and a pretty white bird on our canoeing adventure.


The beautiful sunrise at Pensacola Beach, FL for our year end retreat


The prayer flags we made for each other flying from a kite at sunrise

Where have all the volunteers gone?

We are beginning to experience the slow summer months in Mississsippi with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Most of our volunteers don't want to endure working in the hot Mississippi summer weather so our volunteer camps are starting to look pretty deserted. But there is still so much work to be done and I'm leaving in 2 months. Yikes, that's feeling very soon! Yes, I know that life on the coast will go on without me, but I'd like to finish as much as I can in these remaining months.

I am going to try my hardest to work on getting grant funding for as many families as I can before I leave. There won't be as many distractions and other things to do around here with no volunteers so hopefully I'll be able to write more grants. The problem is the American Red Cross grant that was available for survivors of hurricane Katrina has run out of money. There are still a couple other sources of grant funding for homeowners, but the recovery efforts are sure to take a hit because this major funder is no longer able to provide homeowners with money to rebuild their homes.

I'm crossing my fingers that the last grant I submitted will be approved before the money runs out. If all goes as planned there shouldn't be a program, but you never really know around here. Life in the hurricane recovery business tends to be rather messy.

I really can't believe that I've been here for close to a year. It will definitely be hard to leave, but at the same time I think I will be ready to move on. I'll be back in Seattle around the end of August. Then, in the middle of September one of my old college roommates and I are going to travel in Europe for 3 weeks. Yay! After that, I'm planning on moving to Dallas and finding a job there. My boyfriend, Dan, lives there and I don't think I'm done adventuring and living in different parts of the country. But who knows, I still may end up back in Seattle at some point. I've been thinking more and more about going back to school in a year or two for school counseling. So I'm hoping to find a job in some related field to gain some quality experience and decide if that really is the route I want to take.

I've had several people comment to me lately that I must have some pretty amazing stories from working down here in Mississippi. I'm realizing that is very true and that I have an obligation to tell the stories of the people I interact with on a daily basis. Those people who are still living in FEMA trailers or MEMA cottages, who are doing everything in their power to rebuild their home so they have a real home again.

Today was a great day! It was a glimmer of hope in the countless difficult stories I hear every day. I have been working with a family in Pearlington, Mississippi to get them grant funding for the rest of the building materials they need in order to finish their house. For confidentiality reasons, I will call them the Smiths. Mrs. Smith had a heart attack last October and has been spending about 3 days a week in the hospital. They are so close to being back in their home, but they are struggling to pay all their doctor bills let alone afford building materials. Today they got approved for a Red Cross grant and it's going to the final approval stages of funding tomorrow! Mr. Smith was so happy that he said he might just have to dance at my wedding someday. It made me smile.

I'm really enjoying my job as a case manager now. It's tough. I hear a lot of hard stories and have to make a lot of tough decisions, but overall it is very rewarding to be helping these people.

The summer weather in Mississippi is just about upon us. It has really warmed up lately and the highs are about 80 degrees most days. I am not looking forward to the hot, humid Mississippi weather. But I've done it before and I'm sure I'll be just fine.

Case Management and Mardi Gras fun!

I certainly have a lot to update you on over the last few months. Over Christmas I got to go home to Seattle. It was great spending time with friends and family, and a refreshing break from life on the Gulf Coast. When I returned in January things were very challenging for me for a while. I had a very hard time working with my new co-village manager. We simply have very different approaches to how to do things and were not able to find a common ground to work through those differences. I tried my best to make the best of the situation and find a way to fix things, but it just wasn't possible.

Fortunately my boss was willing to work with me to find a place for me so I could continue working on the Gulf Coast. Now I am working with our case manager and am being trained and am starting to work as a case manager myself. I am really enjoying what I'm doing now and I think it's a better fit for me than being a village manager. I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of home owners and I am getting a better general feel for how much work there still is left here on the Gulf Coast. As I case manager I visit peoples' homes to find out what they need to get back into their house and help them develop a plan to do that. Also I help them find funding.

Recently I've been calling all the home owners we have in our files in our camp in Pearlington to see where they are in the process of getting back into their homes. It can be a long and sometimes boring process but at the same time it's very interesting hearing such a wide variety of stories from people. There are people who are back in their homes and doing just fine to those who seem to be still starting out and have a long ways to go. I hear a lot of stories of frustrated people who feel like they've fallen through the cracks and have basically received no assistance, but I am also encouraged by the stories I hear of people who have received volunteer help and are now giving back to the community because they are back on their feet again.

In other news, Mardi Gras just ended last week. Some of the people I work with and other friends spent a long weekend in New Orleans going to parades. We had a blast and definitely got a taste oflife in New Orleans around Mardi Gras. I have way too many beads, a ton of stuffed animals, feather masks, and other little useless things I caught in the parades.


Dan and I after the Endymion parade with all our stuff!


A Mardi Gras parade float


Our Mardi Gras crew waiting for the parades

Trying Times

It has been a tough week here at with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Early Friday morning we got word that my boss here and the Volunteer Village Coordinator for PDA, Rich Cozzone, died in a car accident on Thursday night. It was a single car accident and he was driving back home to Gulfport, MS from New Orleans. I was supposed to have a meeting with him early on Friday morning and he didn't show up. Soon after that we learned the news.

It's been a tough week for all of us here and I'm sure for his family. He was married and has 3 kids who are all somewhat close to my age. It all was so sudden and unexpected. He was a great man whose heart was in the right place. He loved being here and being a part of the relief effort. He touched many people's lives here and was living his life in God's service. I know he is in heaven but it is still a shock.

Also, yesterday Don Valencia, one of the adults from the Christian community I lived in during college, passed away. He fought cancer for the last 15 months and yesterday the pain finally left him as he went up to heaven. He has an amazing, loving family with two boys who are high school age. During these last 15 months Don kept a blog documenting his progress and keeping his friends and family updated. This blog served as a huge encouragement and testament of faith to so many people, myself included. The perspective he kept during such a difficult time absolutely amazed me. He would often end his posts "God is good all the time" and had so many stories of God's faithfulness and love. God truly was carrying him through these last 15 months and now he can truly be with Him. There's a link on the right-hand side of my blog that says "Don" if you'd like to check his blog out.

Please keep Rich and Don in your prayers. Please pray for their families and friends. Also, please pray for PDA as we trying to make up for the loss of our leader here. Our PDA family has really come around one other in support during these last few days and we are very thankful to have each other's love and support during this time.

Long Awaited Update

I've been quite a stranger lately, so I better fill you in on what's going on here in Mississippi. We had a couple weeks in late October that were crazy. We had 60 volunteers one week and 90 the next week. Becca, Dan, and I were a bit burned out after those weeks and were in need of a break. Thankfully we didn't have any volunteers the next week so we were able to relax a bit and get caught up on things.

Recently we had two really great groups of volunteers here. I really enjoyed getting to know the groups and it was nice to have smaller groups here because we could actually get to know the volunteers a little better than when we have tons of people here.

There is still a definite need here and it still surprises me going into houses that are down to just the studs and still in need of drywall, flooring, and basically a lot of work. The other day, Becca and I went on our usual Walmart run. A lady who was working there giving out samples seemed a little shocked to see Becca and I wearing our Presbyterian Disaster Assistance shirts and she said, "You're still here." She was an incredibly sweet lady and she thanked us repeatedly for still being here to help rebuild. It definitely made my day to see her face light up at the sight of our t-shirts.

I've been reading the book "Blue Like Jazz" lately and one major theme that has really stuck out to me is the theme of humility and being real and authentic with people. It can be really easy to sit on our soap box of we are so great to be down here helping out on the Gulf Coast. But none of this is about getting attention for being here and helping out. We are no better than any of the home owners that we interact with. We are here to serve the people here not with big signs saying, 'look at the great things we are doing,' but rather just serving the people here. What an amazing challenge to have such an attitude of service and humility.

Hugs!

Just your "average" day at PDA

Fortunately or unfortunately Walmart is part of my daily routine. Dodging old ladies is becoming a specialty of mine. We have about 90 people staying at our camp right now so it's a tight squeeze around here. And the Walmart runs are pretty funny. For example, today I bought 120 bratwursts, 15 heads of lettuce, and 18 boxes of angel food cake. I got some pretty strange looks when I piled 120 bratwursts up in the check out line :)

It's also raining buckets around here today. When it rains down here it pours, Seattle rain has nothing on the downpours we get here. The funny thing is no one seems to own rain gear around here. During my trip to Walmart everyone was just walking around in t-shirts soaking wet. It's one of those days that I just want to curl up "inside" (in my trailer) all day and pretend the world doesn't exist. Thankfully everything is going smoothly around here even with 90 people, it's a miracle!

In other news, a week or two ago some insect bit me on the foot. They couldn't tell me what it was but my foot was so swollen and I ended up going to the ER for it. But no worries, I'm doing just fine now and my foot is back to its normal size, but you have to check out how it looked.


Now that's a swollen foot.


I wouldn't want to leave you with the gross image of my foot so here's a pretty sunset from a couple days ago.

Road Trip Continued

After we left the Grand Canyon we drove to New Mexico and stayed with my brother in Sante Fe. Then as we were driving out of New Mexico towards Texas we saw about 5 to 10 tarantulas on the road! It was insane! The first one Cassandra accidentally ran over but then we kept seeing more as we were driving. PJ insisted on stopping even though I was strongly protesting. He caught one in his camera case and attempted to smuggle it into the car with us, but I pretty much freaked out and we locked him out of the car until he let it go. My heart was beating so fast, I am not a fan of spiders, especially tarantulas! It was pretty ridiculous but quite a story.


The tarantula, ick!


PJ catching the tarantula


Cassandra and I at Turner Falls, Oklahoma. I was very impressed by Oklahoma, it's pretty. And there was a Big Foot researcher where we camped in Oklahoma, such good times.


PJ enjoying the view


We hiked along a little trail up to this creepy but cool cave!


Our last stop was in Wesson, Mississippi. Cassandra has a friend who owns a dairy farm, so we woke up in the morning and helped feed the calves. Cassandra even named a couple of the calves.

Seattle to Mississippi!

I never got a chance to update y'all on how the road trip went, but it was amazing! Cassandra, PJ, and I had an amazing time! We went to Vegas, the Grand Canyon, visited my brother in Sante Fe, went to Oklahoma, and Mississippi. We camped along the way and it was definitely the best road trip I've been on. Here are some pictures to help you relive the moment :)


Cassandra and I starting off in good ol' Washington


Oregon!


The heavens opened up for us in Oregon


The strip in Vegas at night. We drove from Seattle to Vegas in one day, it was insane! And we slept in an industrial parking lot in Vegas, that was pretty hilarious. Then we picked up PJ and drove to the Grand Canyon!


At the Grand Canyon!


The Grand Canyon is absolutely spectacular!!! There is no way any of my pictures can capture how amazing it is! It seriously looks fake and I couldn't stop saying, "This is so awesome" over and over again.


Hiking into the canyon

I'll post some more pictures from the trip soon!

Trusting God

For about a year or so, God has constantly been teaching me how to truly trust Him. It sounds like such a simple concept and it is, but in practice it is one of the hardest things to do. To just let go and let Him have the control over whatever situation I am facing. I should have it down by now because looking back over this last year and a half I can tell you some pretty amazing stories of God's faithfulness in my life.

The story of how I ended up here in Mississippi is an incredible testament to how God is always orchestrating everything perfectly even though it often looks like complete chaos to us. About a year and a half ago I came to Mississippi for the first time to help with the hurricane relief effort, little did I know that that trip would be the beginning of a new direction in my life. After I left the first time I just kept wanting to come back and I did during that spring and the following summer. It was so hard for me to leave last summer and when I returned home to Seattle I immediately felt homesick for Mississippi. What a strange but incredible feeling to miss a place so much. No one likes being homesick, but it often means that you have left something you love and I am so thankful to have found something to be homesick for.

I felt like I was waiting on God all last year because all I wanted to do was come back to Mississippi. At times I felt like God was teasing me and I was afraid that my time here was finished. But I just had to be patient and God opened up the right opportunities and I am exactly where I want to be. Sometimes when things start to get a little chaotic around here I have to remind myself why I am here and that I am exactly where I want to be. I'm living the dream, my dream at least.

Road Trip!

I got back to Gulfport a few days ago but I am off again. Tomorrow I fly home to Seattle for a few days, then my great friend Cassandra and I are leaving to go on the best road trip of life from Seattle to Mississippi! It's going to be insane but I couldn't ask for better company. I need to get my car down to Mississippi so here we go. Cassandra and I were roommates in Mississippi last summer and we turned in instant life-long friends and adventure buddies. We also both love Mississippi!

Our first group of volunteers came into Orange Grove tonight, it's great to have volunteers here and to start getting out and rebuilding homes. The group that came in tonight is from Georgia and there's another group coming in tomorrow from Florida. Unfortunately I won't be here for most of the time that these groups will be here. It's bitter-sweet, it will be good to see my family and friends at home but I am ready to just be living in Mississippi without traveling every few days.

Prayer Requests:

-Safe travels on the road

-For the volunteer groups and our staff this week - specifically safety, productivity, and that the volunteers would have a great time and see God in this place


Cassandra and I last summer frolicking in an amazing downpour in good 'ol Mississippi!


And this is one of the many reasons I love Mississippi, gorgeous!

Ghost Ranch, NM

I'm back in Mississippi from the national orientation I went to in New Mexico. It was a good week, but I am happy to be back in the south. The place we were in New Mexico is up in the mountains and unfortunately I got altitude sickness...no fun! I have never had any problems with altitude sickness before and I have spent a fair amount of time up in the mountains and at high elevations. But I am ok and happy to be back at sea level. The one thing I am very grateful for is the support around me when I wasn't feeling well. The people I was with were very loving and took care of me even though I haven't known any of them for more than a few weeks.

New Mexico is beautiful though and there were some pretty cool hiking trails where we were. Thankfully I felt fine the first day or so and had the opportunity to do some hiking, hooray! I also met some very cool people who are in the same program I am but they are placed all over the U.S. Here are some sweet pics from our hike to Kitchen Mesa.


Andy and Leanna hiking up on the right


We hiked/climbed up the middle of that crevasse :)


View from the top of the mesa


Ghost Ranch (where we were staying) is the grassy field below us

Building Pods

Good news, the tropical storm that was headed our way fizzled out so it looks like the worst we'll get is a couple inches of rain and some minor storms. That means we didn't have to drive to New Mexico and we're flying out tomorrow morning instead, yes!

This week I helped build pods in the volunteer villages in Mississippi. The pods are what the volunteers who come down for a week or so at a time sleep in. I'm tired, but it was a great week. I worked hard and got to know the people I'll be working with for most of the year. I think I'm going to fit in great in Gulfport.


Becca and I working on building pods. Becca and I will be co-managing the volunteer village in Gulfport together.